Vikings Fire Former Eagles QB Coach John DeFilippo
12/11/2018
By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor 
The Vikings have fired offensive coordinator John Defilippo in the wake of a 21-7 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
John DeFilippo has been relieved from his duties as offensive coordinator.
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 11, 2018
Kevin Stefanski has been elevated to Interim Offensive Coordinator and will handle play-calling duties. pic.twitter.com/bI30IP3OV0
DeFilippo (Flip) served as the QB coach for the Eagles during their Super Bowl run last season. He was one of two coaches to leave the staff. With Frank Reich not expected to leave, Flip left for the offensive coordinator job in Minnesota before Josh McDaniels decided he had no need to uphold commitments and the Eagles lost Frank Reich to the head coaching job in Indianapolis.
The Vikings now stand at 6-6-1 on the year. While the Vikings ranked eight in the league in passing yards under Flip, but ranked 30th in total rush yards. It should be difficult to blame Flip for that, however as he is working with Dalvin Cook and Latavius Murray, both of whom have been underachieving. It should also be noted that Flip, much like he did in Philly, has been utilizing the screen game as an extension of the run game. In fact, those top two backs have an additional 350 yards and two touchdowns through the air, much of which has come through the screen game.
The other issue is his quarterback. The Vikings decided to let Sam Bradford, Case Keenum and Teddy Bridgewater walk this offseason to pay Kirk Cousins $84 million in guaranteed money. 6-6-1 is where you should expect to be with the wildly mediocre Cousins at quarterback. Afterall, this is the same guy that knelt instead of spiking the ball to gift the Eagles a win a few seasons ago. The man is now 4-24 against teams with records above .500. In the playoffs, almost every team is a winning team. You can’t expect to win a Super Bowl without beating winning teams.
Due to the Cousins commitment, Flip becomes the first casualty to take a fall for the Vikings not winning with Cousins at the helm. Expect to see more as the Vikings continue to struggle with an “elite QB” who is throwing to a receiving corps of Adam Thelien, Stefon Diggs, Laquon Treadwell and Kyle Rudolph.
For the Eagles, the move is a gift. The Birds could bring him in right away to help with coaching Carson Wentz and he might even be in line to be the team’s new offensive coordinator in 2019.
Flip wasn't the real problem, though his play calling has been uninspired. The biggest issue is inferior offensive line play along with injuries. Cousins runs for his life most plays and the running game gets nothing in the way of holes to run through. In my opinion this has more to do with the front office not committing draft picks and/or free agent money to fix the central issue. If Cousins had even average protection he would be succeeding considering he has Thielen, Diggs and Rudolph to throw to along with competent runners in Cook and Murray. If they do not address this issue (even if it means a defensive player or two walks) it will be the same in 2019.
Posted by: Richard M. Weber | 12/11/2018 at 05:25 PM
I agree, Flip was a scapegoat for poor decisions. He won't be the last. I agree the line is bad (Remmers may be the only good one), but Cousins is also not a top QB. He is Sam Bradford without the injuries and a little more mobility. He has yet to prove he can beat a good team. He is certainly an upgrade of a game manager, but he won't be elite. He needs a very good team around him, which becomes harder to do when your QB is in town based on the fact that is where he could get the highest salary cap hit rather than sticking where he was drafted and has loyalty. Definitely an issue the front office will have some work to do to properly address - especially if they are unwilling to admit where they failed.
Posted by: Paul Bowman | 12/11/2018 at 07:14 PM